LUMCON Opens a New Facility on Houma’s Maritime Campus

Houma, LA.  – On December 7th, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) hosted a Ribbon-Cutting ceremony for its Blue Works facility located at 335 Dickson Road.  The event showcased remarks by Dr. Brian Roberts, LUMCON’s Executive Director and Chief Scientist, Senator Mike Fessi, Brian Lezina, Administrator, Planning and Research at Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana, and Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, LA commissioner of higher education.  LUMCON was fortunate to have the support of elected officials and their representatives from the local, state, and federal levels in attendance. All present were instrumental in helping LUMCON to expand its operations to better serve the needs of Louisiana.

The opening of this state-of-the-art facility marks a milestone in the growth of the organization that had built a legacy of great accomplishments in marine science research and education from its DeFelice Marine Center in Cocodrie.  LUMCON will still base its operations at the Marine Center as it is the premier living laboratory for the region and state.  Blue Works is an expansion that will help LUMCON realize new ways to support and achieve its mission to promote, facilitate, and conduct research and education collaborations among Louisiana’s universities in marine and coastal sciences relevant to the sustainability of the coastal and marine environments of the Gulf of Mexico.

In his remarks, Dr. Roberts, stated that the expansion of their programs in Houma would, “allow LUMCON to better serve the consortium as well as the state as a whole by expanding our expertise in engineering and technology-focused research within the state, contributing to redefining the workforce, and helping to lead the way into new and exciting scientific research that benefits us locally, nationally and globally”.  “We also hope that this facility will become a cornerstone for the community as a place to come together to have important discussions addressing  the compelling questions and  challenges we will face in the future.”

The new facility is located in the center of Terrebonne Parish’s maritime industry and closer to the members of the consortium who believe that the wealth of talent and knowledge within the current workforce and community will define the workforce of tomorrow through workforce development programs that train people who will be highly skilled, think more creatively, and view the world around them broadly as an integrated system. Being more accessible because of its location, the Maritime Campus is closer to consortium members, partners, and supporters which will strengthen and deepen these relationships and collaborations.  It will also allow more members of the community to engage with LUMCON and increase access to the organization and our resources. LUMCON’s Houma location is where innovation can begin as science, education, industry, and community come together to create real change. Besides research and education spaces the facility also has spaces for record storage for virtual documents and other assets, and specimens that are important for retaining knowledge of the Terrebonne Bay system.  The new facility will soon oversee LUMCON’s soon-to-be-built new marine operation center which is vital to continuing to keep Louisiana a leader in oceanographic research with the infrastructure that is needed to maintain an active research fleet. The combined presence of the facility, the marine operations center, and Fletcher Technical Community College facility are known as the Houma Maritime Campus. This campus is physical evidence of what a collaboration between institutions and organizations can achieve. For more information about LUMCON visit lumcon.edu. Photos courtesy of LUMCON Facebook.